In a ruling handed down Friday afternoon, Judge Clark Waddoups of the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah sided with Bank of America and overturned a Utah county judge’s earlier decision that barred the nation’s largest mortgage servicer from carrying out foreclosure sales in the state.

Waddoups issued a court order that stated: “The preliminary injunction of May 22, 2010 issued by the Utah state court is hereby DISSOLVED in its entirety.”

The volume of troubled residential properties has been growing in nearly every U.S. state since 2005, but Standard & Poor’s says regional inventory levels and trends will determine the detriment of this shadow supply.

In the New York City metro area, for example, the company estimates that it will take 103 months for shadow inventory to clear, assuming current liquidation rates. That’s nearly 3.5 times the national average of 34 months. By contrast, the Phoenix area has the lowest level of shadow inventory, at 16 months.